Read Online The Fiend by Margaret Millar - Free Book Online

a lot of dirty water, we’re in it right up to our necks. How can I pretend we’re standing on dry land, safe and secure?”
    â€œWe could buy a boat,” Mary Martha suggested, wiping her eyes.
    There was a silence, then her mother said in a bright, brittle voice, “Why, lamb, that’s a perfectly splendid idea. Why didn’t I think of it? We’ll buy a boat just big enough for the two of us, and we’ll float right out of Sheridan’s life. Won’t that be lovely, sweetikins?”
    â€œYes, ma’am.”
    (5)
    Quickly and quietly , Charlie let himself in the front door. He was late for supper by almost an hour and he knew Ben would be grumpy about it and full of questions. He had his answers ready, ones that Ben couldn’t easily prove or disprove. He hated lying to Ben but the truth was so simple and innocent that Ben wouldn’t believe it: he’d gone to 319 Jacaranda Road, where the child Jessie lived, to see if she was all right. She’d taken a bad fall at the playground, she could have injured herself quite seriously, her little bones were so delicate.
    He knew from experience what Ben’s reaction would be. Playground? What were you doing at a playground, Charlie? How did you learn the child’s name? And where she lives? And that her little bones are delicate? How did she fall, Charlie? Were you chasing her and was she running away? Why do you want to chase little girls, Charlie?
    Ben would misunderstand, misinterpret everything. It was better to feed him a lie he would swallow than a truth he would spit out.
    Charlie took off the windbreaker he always wore no matter what the weather and hung it on the clothes rack beside the front door. Then he went down the dark narrow hall to the kitchen.
    Ben was standing at the sink, rinsing a plate under the hot-water tap. He said, without turning, “You’re late. I’ve already eaten.”
    â€œI’m sorry, Ben. I had some trouble with the car. I must have flooded it again. I had to wait half an hour before the engine would turn over.”
    â€œI’ve told you a dozen times, all you’ve got to do when the engine’s flooded is press the accelerator down to the floorboard and let it up again very slowly.”
    â€œOh, I did that, Ben. Sometimes it doesn’t work.”
    â€œIt does for me.”
    â€œWell, you’ve got a real way with cars. You command their respect.”
    Ben turned. He didn’t look in the least flattered, as Charlie had hoped he would. “Louise called. She’ll be over early. She’s getting off at seven because she’s taking another girl’s place tomorrow night. You’d better hurry up and eat.”
    â€œSure, Ben.”
    â€œThere’s a can of spaghetti in the cupboard and some fish cakes.”
    Charlie didn’t particularly like fish cakes and spaghetti but he took the two cans out of the cupboard and opened them. Ben was in a peculiar mood, it would be better not to cross him even about so minor a thing as what to have for supper. He wanted to cross him, though; he wanted to tell him outright that he, Charlie, was a grown man of thirty-two and he didn’t have to account for every minute of his time and be told what to eat and how to spend the evening. So Louise was coming. Well, suppose he wasn’t there when she arrived. Suppose he walked out right now…
    No, he couldn’t do that, not tonight anyway. Tonight she was bringing him something very important, very urgent. He didn’t understand why he considered it so important but it was as if she were going to hand him a key, a mysterious key which would unlock a door or a secret box.
    He thought of the hidden delights behind the door, inside the box, and his hands began to tremble. When he put the fish cakes in the frying pan, the hot grease splattered his knuckles. He felt no pain, only a sense of wonder that this grease, which had no mind or will